


The Fourth Shot

by orphan_account



Category: Eyewitness (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood, I'm Sorry, M/M, Panic Attacks, Sadness, Violence, and sad, it's dark, its a huge major character death, like really major
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 01:06:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9468602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Sometimes Lukas thinks how things would be different if he'd been quicker, if his body would've reacted sooner. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad. Maybe he'd be dead, too. Maybe...(AKA Lukas doesn't hit Ryan Kane with the frying pan soon enough, and Kane ends up shooting Philip under the bed. Lukas and Kane are the only ones to walk out of the cabin that night.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so when I say major character death, I mean MAJOR character death. Also there's a huge canon-divergence (obviously).
> 
> It gets kinda dark too, and I'm not sure how well I wrote this one, so I don't know if I'll be making this one a series lol
> 
> Anyway, I warned you lol

It's funny how quickly someone's entire life can change in a matter of minutes. One moment, Philip is kissing Lukas's neck, half-naked on top of a bed. The next, he's being shoved underneath it and Lukas is thinking of excuses as to why he was in the cabin alone with Philip. But it wasn't his dad that was outside.

_Shit._ Lukas scrambled to pull on his shirt before diving into the closet. He could hear muffled voices outside and car doors slamming. _Who the hell are those guys? And why are they at my dad's cabin?_ Lukas didn't have too much time to think about it before the cabin door crashed open and several people filed into the dark room. Lukas's world immediately sprang into action. He could only see faint silhouettes behind the blinds that covered most of his view, but he made out four figures moving around behind the door. Everyone was shouting loudly at each other and arguing about something Lukas couldn't remember. His hands started to shake and his thumping heart almost drowned out all of them. _What the hell is going on?_

It happened so fast. Suddenly, one of the men- the one pulled from the trunk- conjured a gun from thin air like a magician would a rabbit out of a hat.

_Bang. Bang._

Two men went down and hit the ground as if they were nothing more than sacks of potatoes. _Holy shit._ Lukas's ears rang from the crack of the gunshots. They were so _loud_. Louder than the movies he's seen, or the roar of his motorbike when he revved the engine. Panic crawled up his throat and choked him. The ground swayed dangerously under Lukas's feet, and for a second, he thought he too was going to meet the hard floor with his body. Shaking hands grappled for the doorknob, which Lukas clung onto for dear life while he focused getting air through his constricting lungs.

"Dude it's cool, man. Alright? I'm with the FBI." Lukas could hear the desperation in the man's voice as the gun was now trained on him. _Bang._ Another body hit the ground. The world around Lukas blurred and his air supply was cut off completely as dread gripped his lungs. The tips of his fingers tingled as he gripped his life support. Somehow, the guy didn't hear Lukas's frantic gasps for air. 

Philip, unfortunately, was not so lucky. 

Lukas watched the guy move towards the bed, and he saw him bend down and shove the gun where Philip was cowering. Lukas could hear Philip's pleas and trembling breaths, but Lukas's body didn't seem to register what was happening. Everything was happening in slow motion. Like the world was stuck in tar. He needed to do something, _anything._ He screamed, begged, for his limbs to just _move_. To do _something._ But his body refused and stayed rooted behind the door.

It's funny, isn't it? Who knew how things could change so quickly, even when time seems to move so slow. With a swift snap of fingers, and suddenly, the entire world rotates the other way. It's even funnier, though, when you think about those moments over and over again. Every detail engrained into your skull plays on a loop behind closed eyelids like an old movie reel. You start to think that maybe, _maybe_ if I had done that _one thing_ , then maybe things would be different. Maybe things would be easier. So many _maybe's_ and _could have beens_. But no matter how much you obsess over it, the only past that ever changes is the one that becomes warped and re-shaped in your mind. But that doesn't bring people back; no matter how warped your memories become, that person is still gone forever.

_Bang._

The fourth gunshot seemed louder than the others, somehow. For a second, time was suspended in midair, like it was hanging from gold thread. For a second, the world was quiet enough for Lukas to hear the crisp snip of scissors that finally cut the threads binding him to his spot on the wooden floorboards. As quietly as he could, Lukas opened the door and grabbed a frying pan from the counter nearby. He raised it above his head and ran at the man, who was still looking under the bed, and bashed it as hard as he could across the man's skull. _Crack!_ The impact reverberated up through his arms and into his brain as his body memorized the movement. The man lifted his head and, Lukas, reacting on instinct, hit him again. 

Silence. Dead silence.

Lukas gulped, his stomach tied itself in tight, painful knots. Slowly, he lowered his gaze to the floor. A pale sliver of exposed skin from Philip's arm lay motionless on the floor, just barely illuminated by the gray moonlight. Lukas cautiously reached for it with quivering fingers. "Ph-Philip?" His skin brushed against Philip's, like it had just minutes before, but instead of the electric spark of desire, Lukas only felt fear numbing the tips of his fingers. Philip's arm was warm, but he still didn't move, not even a twitch. _Maybe... maybe..._

Lukas hoped, _prayed_ with everything he had that Philip was alright, that somehow, _somehow_ , the bullet didn't hit him. _It must've missed. There's no way that it made its mark._ Hesitantly, Lukas reached for the bed covers that had fallen over the gap between the bed and the floor and pushed them away. Lukas's heart raced in his chest like a frightened jackrabbit, and his breathing had all but abandoned him in his chest. He desperately hoped that he would see Philip, terrified, but _alive_ when he poked his face underneath the wooden frame.

At least that's what he had wished before he actually discovered what was under there.

Now, Lukas just wished he didn't look under the bed at all. Maybe his nightmares wouldn't be so bad. Lukas reeled back as if the sight had electrocuted him. He shot to his feet and grabbed the gun laying just out of the killer's reach before he booked it out of the cabin. His stomach rolled and bile shot up his throat as he stumbled down the steps of the now-silent cabin.

Still clinging onto the frying pan with a tight fist, Lukas flung it into the nearby bushes, as far away as humanly possible. He could still feel the twist of the guy's neck and the heavy _fwump_ of his body as he hit him with the frying pan. He could still hear the crack breaking the stiffening silence that was left in the last bullet's wake.

_Bang. Crack. Bang_. Over and over and over again. The sounds never left Lukas's head. 

Lukas fumbled for the gun and fired shots haphazardly through the window. To him, it almost seemed as if the gun triggered itself. His knees began to buckle underneath him as he stumbled to his bike. Lukas was already turning on the engine before he had even swung his entire body over the seat. He rode until his vision blurred again and he was forced to stop before he fell off the damned thing. 

When the he came to a shuddering halt, Lukas practically tumbled off of his bike just in time to heave the contents of his stomach up near the edge of a small pond. His body shook and convulsed violently as he crumbled to his knees, sharp pebbles that bit into his hands and knees being the only thing to ground him. It took several seconds before Lukas was positive he wasn't going to be sick again. And even then, that was debatable.

The sight of Philip laying motionless beneath the bed was burned into Lukas's retinas. Every time he closed his eyelids, he saw Philip... dark eyes blank and cloudy as they stared back at Lukas, his last moments of terror permanently imprinted onto his face. The same eyes Lukas noticed first about the boy- aside from his jacket- would never see anything again. Lukas tried not to imagine the trail of blood dripping out of Philip's gaping mouth, or the even more menacing puddle spreading underneath his head...

_Oh god... I'm gonna be sick again._ Lukas bent over and cradled his stomach with his arms when horrible cramps and nausea dug their teeth into his body and shook him like a rag doll. Lukas choked on the last of it before reaching for the gun that, for some reason, he still had with him. The same gun that had taken four lives in the cabin that night... including Philip's.

_He's gone._ It didn't make sense. It didn't seem real. No matter how many times Lukas related the same two words in his head, he couldn't really grasp that _Philip was actually gone._ If only Lukas had hit the man with the frying pan sooner, maybe Philip would be okay.

_I need to tell someone._

_No! Are you kidding? No one can know I was there. No one can know I was with..._

Philip is _dead_ and all Lukas could think about was that no one could find out that he had made out with him. _What is wrong with me?_

With the battle raging on inside Lukas's head, he started frantically wiping away his fingerprints from the gun with the end of his shirt. Not wanting to hold the malicious metal in his trembling hands any longer, he hurled it into the murky waters of the pond where it sunk to the bottom.

_No one can know._

~~~

Lukas couldn't really remember driving home, everything was sort of a blur at that point. A buzz accompanied the ring of the gunshot behind his ears, it was the only thing louder than it. The dull drone drowned out the rest of Lukas's thoughts, leaving him an empty shell. 

Lukas was aware that his dad was probably asleep in his room by now, and that the rumble of the motorbike engine would probably wake him up, but Lukas didn't really care. He didn't really care that he just sort of tossed his bike to the side of the house rather than carefully bringing it around to the garage, like he usually did. He didn't care that his dad could be waiting behind the door to chew him out for staying out so late without giving him a call. 

Lukas couldn't feel anything, surprisingly. The same thing that seemed to draw the air out of his lungs dragged his emotions and thoughts with it. His entire body felt numb, and it wasn't from the cold. The only thing going through Lukas's mind was the sound of gunshots, over and over again.

_Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang._ Silence.


End file.
